Lost in the Valley of the Night
by La Patron-Minette
Summary: They have no chance, no chance at all. So why are they chosen to throw their lives away? Demigod/modern mythology AU. e/R and Éponine/Courfeyrac.
1. Prologue

It's been fifty years since the all-out war in New York. Fifty years since more and more demigods grew older and older because they had nothing to fear- so long as they pledged allegiance to PEAR.

Camp Half-Blood has gone through relatively no change. The children of gods are still permitted to have a safe haven away from monsters that have gone rogue. In fact, since more of the children survive to be eighteen, the age limit has been pushed to twenty three. The only darkness in the happy camp is the constant shadow of PEAR.

PEAR. _perficiendum egregium et adsumptio de regula_. Excellent performance and acceptance of the rule

PEAR, run by Kronos, keeps the mortal world in check as well as the rebellious demigods. Since the death of Percy Jackson at the ruler's hand, demigods are permanently looked down upon in the fantastical world that is their reality. The monsters and godlings spit upon them. It is all too often that a poor, wandering demigod is tortured for the titans' amusement. Then there are the few that have wormed their way into the titans' good sides. Such as Montparnasse, the charming son of Aphrodite who is charged with 'keeping watch' on Camp Half-Blood.

The gods themselves are kept in an imprisonment of sort. They do not have the freedom they once had, however they can control their domains to a certain extent. For instance, Zeus keeps the storms in the sky and Poseidon protects the fish in the sea. Hades judges the dead and Apollo assures that the sun rises. They can all fornicate with mortals, but are immediately called back to their Olympic prison once it appears that there is risk of another demigod being born.

Because of this birth control, there are less demigods in the camp. The number, once at five hundred, has squandered down to less than one hundred. There are mixed children among the campers, those who are the children of demigods past and those who are the mistake of a demigod and a mortal neglecting to use protection.

This world exists parallel to the modern world. The mortals may have been slightly aware of some turmoil fifty years prior, but now they live in peaceful ignorance of the fact that they are under titan rule.  
It is this world that is close to Marius Pontmercy as he stumbles over the beach. There are large slashes across his thin chest from where a monster sunk its claws. His grandfather was not concerned for Marius's safety; he instead yelled for his grandson to "Get out! I won't have cursed scum living under my roof!"

Now Marius hears the scaly wings on the wind. He knows that it is close and he knows that something is even closer to saving him. He is answered when he sees a young girl, a good four years younger than himself, walking along the beach.

"Help!" he yells and points towards the predator in the sky. The girl sees it and her eyes widen. She rushes to him without a question asked. In his red-spotted vision he can't see much of her but a flash of dark hair and dusky skin. She hoists his arm over her shoulder and drags him along the water, constantly looking towards the thing in fear.

"Almost there, mister. Almost there." She attempts to sound reassuring, but Marius can hear the panic in her voice. She is as unsure as he that they will make it somewhere safe. Suddenly, despite the gloomy skies, the beach is enveloped in sunshine. Marius hears the creature fall to the sand as if struck down by something. He is too delirious to see what.

The girl sets him down. His vision grows black, but he hears her voice calling in the distance, "Joly, Cosette! Help! Help!"

Before Marius finally succumbs to the darkness, he sees a pale face bent over him as well as the smooth skin of a living angel. Marius has always been religious, so he believes himself to be dead when he sees the beauty in the girl who has now become his savior. (He forgets all about the small, dark girl who initially helped him as well as the young man who is tending his wounds)

Everything is this beautiful girl and this sunshine and nothing else exists.

**...**

**super short intro, I know. **

**ATTENTION: I am in need of a beta who is NOT Ceara (ConcreteAngel- poor doll's got so much on her plate)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Actress- **Well that got answered :)

**Nina**- Aw thanks!

**TheIbis**- You don't have to be an actual 'beta' to be a beta. You literally just connect with someone and edit their shit :) But I got one, so it's all good. Hope you like this one!

**Big thanks to my new beta, Almost An Actress! **

**Hey hey hey also totally random: Can we maybe bind together to stop ship wars because I kinda got attacked and it wasn't fun...**

* * *

When he wakes, he is in a room that can only be described as old. The walls were once white-washed and well retained, but now there is dirt peeling in long strips. The corners have gathered so much grime that Marius convinces himself that he sees movement in the gunk.

However, he feels fully healed. Upon sitting up, he can tell that he's been changed from his khakis and polo shirt. There's a gentle caress on his back of clean, soft cotton and his legs are fully covered in relatively new jeans. His head aches a little bit, but when his hands fly to his chest he realizes that he has no injury.

His first relieving thought is that he just passed out and his grandfather brought him to a hospital. But no hospital would _look_ like this, right?

And there's the fact that he's not hooked up to any machines and there are no distant hospital-y sounds. It appears as if he's been unceremoniously dumped in this room until he takes notice of a plate that's been set on the floor by the door.

He stands on unsteady legs and inspects the strange soufflé-looking thing. Deciding that his hunger wins out any particular pickiness, Marius shoves the crumbly item in his mouth and eats it as fast as he can.

That is a decision that he strongly regrets.

The food item fills his body with the warmest, most comfortable feeling in his life. He's always been a clean-cut kid, as such, he's never done drugs. But he suspects that _this_ is what it feels like to be high. This soaring, swooping feeling. Ecstasy and fulfillment.

The taste is that of buttered bread and yet it tastes _deeper_. How that is possible, Marius doesn't know.

He feels energized enough to explore, so in a burst of confidence, he opens the door and finds it to be locked. Suddenly panicking, Marius starts to throw himself against the door in a desperate attempt to open it. He bangs and he yells, terrified that he's been kidnapped and _Oh God, what if that heavenly food had drugs in it_.

He's taken completely by surprise when the door opens into him. He never thought to pull. The person who steps in the room just looks at him and snickers without saying anything. Marius frowns a little at their rudeness but holds out his hand formally.

"Hi, I'm Marius Pontmercy, and can you please tell me where I am?" he says. The other guy lets out a hoot of laughter that lights up his mischievous, unattractive face.

"You're so polite it's almost adorable," he comments and ruffles Marius's hair, although Marius is sure that this young man is barely older than he is. "'Name's Courfeyrac."

"That's quite a name," Marius says for the sake of saying something. Courfeyrac wrinkles his long nose and nods in agreement.

"Well, to be fair, it's my last name. They tried to instigate something a couple years back where everyone went by their last name. _That_ fell through, but for some reason me and my band of misfits still do it," Courfeyrac says, and then seems to remember something. "Which brings me to my second point. You, my dear sir, are at Camp Half-Blood."

He indicates his T-Shirt, which reads those words. Marius also takes note of several painted beads strung on a leather necklace around Courfeyrac's neck.

"Camp… Half-Blood? Is that like a Harry Potter fan camp?" Marius asks cluelessly. Courfeyrac laughs again.

"Don't mention Harry Potter here, just a tip. _Especially_ not to the Athena kids. They'll go on a whole damn lecture about the inconsistencies in the mythological allusions," Courfeyrac advises. He subtly pulls Marius out of his small room and into a cramped hallway. Pictures of campers in orange shirts fill the hallway. Most of the pictures are years old and the glass is shattered. Some are held onto the wall by duct tape.

Courfeyrac leads Marius into an atrium of sorts in which a man sits in a wheelchair at a table. The man looks up and nods politely at Courfeyrac. Marius gasps in shock at the familiar face.

"Mr. Madeline?" he asks. The man laughs jovially and holds out his hand.

"No, although that's what you knew me as, right? Your grandfather's business manager?" the man asks. Marius, relieved as he is to see a familiar face, remains confused.

"What is this place? Why am I here?" he asks.

"Grantaire, didn't you explain to M-" the man begins, but then his sharp eyes catch something on Courfeyrac's necklace and he rolls said eyes, exasperated. "Courfeyrac, _stop impersonating other campers_. It's rude."

Courfeyrac snorts and before Marius's eyes, the young man turns from an unattractive, red-eyed image into a handsome, fit boy who might even be younger than Marius.

Marius yelps and cowers behind Mr. Madeline's wheelchair. Courfeyrac laughs a deep laugh that is different from his previous raspy cackle. "Probably shouldn't have done that in front of the new kid."

"No," sighs Mr. Madeline. "You shouldn't have. Marius, please come out. I have a story to tell you."

Marius, feeling embarrassingly like a small child, stands up and nods to tell Mr. Madeline that he's ready to hear it. The old man shifts in his wheelchair and begins.

"A long time ago, there were gods that ruled the different domains of the earth. They occasionally had children with mortals; children who either became accomplished heroes or died horrific deaths. Often both. As threat to these children continued, a safe-haven was created to train them to survive and thrive in their dangerous sub-world." Mr. Madeline motions to the room around him. "_This_, Camp Half-Blood, is that safe haven."

"So wait…all that is true? I thought it was all myths…"

"You're really going to doubt an explanation for what just happened, "Courfeyrac motions his changed, now very handsome face, "here?"

"I still don't understand _that_." Marius shivers.

"Anyway," Mr. Madeline clears his throat. "There are twelve Olympic gods and numerous minor gods. All of them fornicate with mortals at one point or another. Those children are hunted by things from the pits of our version of Hell. As, I believe, you saw yesterday." Mr. Madeline raises an eyebrow at Marius as if daring the young man to contradict him. Marius just nods in agreement. "We teach demi-gods – also known as half-bloods – to protect themselves. We also tried to better the world."

"Tried? Why the past tense?" Marius asks. Mr. Madeline sighs, aging centuries in seconds.

"We are now under a new…government, I suppose. We are restricted from any quests that will distinctly change anything. And now our camp is under direct supervision from PEAR."

"PEAR, is that the government?" Marius asks.

"They're a group of powerful, fascist assholes, that's what they are," Courfeyrac mutters.

Mr. Madeline appears appalled. "Courfeyrac! They're watching!"

Courfeyrac snorts. "I don't see them anywhere."

"They're always watching."

* * *

"So your mom's Aphrodite?" Marius asks, feeling a touch uncomfortable. "And that somehow means you can change your-"

"Appearance at will? Yeah. It's pretty awesome. I've had some seriously hot sex with some girls who ask me to look like their favorite celebrity," Courfeyrac says casually, winking at a tall blond girl as she passes. Once she is gone, Courfeyrac leans over to Marius and whispers, "For her I was fucking Harry Potter. Not even Daniel Radcliffe; Harry Potter in costume."

"Well, that's…" Marius tries to think of a word that won't be so offensive. "Lovely?"

"Shit." Courfeyrac mumbles and his face does that _thing_again where it melts into itself before hardening in a different shape. Courfeyrac now looks like how he did when he first introduced himself.

"Hey R!" Says a voice behind Marius. He turns, and sees a young girl staring up at him. She has wide, almond shaped eyes that are darker than any color he thought was possible for eyes to be. Her skin is sun tanned- a near golden color that is something near brown in the contours of her body. Her hair is shaggy and tangled and it falls down her back in loose waves. By most definitions, she would be beautiful. To Marius, she is nothing compared to the remembrance of the Angel that saved him.

"Éponine!" says Courfeyrac in a voice perhaps a few octaves too high. "How are you on this fine day?"

This girl, - _Éponine_– wrinkles her nose and frowns up at Courfeyrac. "What's wrong? Did you and Enjolras break up _again_? Or are you actually sober?"

"Um…" Courfeyrac avoids the question and motions helplessly towards Marius. "Éponine, meet Marius. New guy."

"Yeah, I _know_. I was the one who brought him to camp," Éponine huffs. Her face suddenly softens and she really _looks_ at Marius. "At least he's cute."

Marius feels the red blush prickle his neck and he rubs it nervously. Courfeyrac saves the situation by slinging his arm around Marius's narrow shoulders and winking at Éponine.

"Well the two of you can get nice and acquainted later. I'm showing him around camp."

Éponine once again frowns up at Courfeyrac. "_No_. Chiron literally just told _me_ to do it. Apparently I'm supposed to protect him from the 'unhealthy influence of Courfeyrac', who, coincidentally, is the same mystery guy who told Gav what porn was and how to Google it. "

Marius, all too lost in the midst of things, says softly. "Hey wait, aren't you C-"

Courfeyrac slaps a hand over Marius's mouth and chuckles Éponine's glare away. "Ha-ha, new guy, confused, you know the deal. Why don't you go tell Enjolras to meet me here? Then I'll hand him off to you."

"Yeah, sure." Éponine walks away, muttering something along the lines of, "Weird, you're so damn weird."

As soon as she's out of sight, Courfeyrac returns to what Marius assumes is his natural face. He exhales slowly, still staring at the point where Éponine disappeared.

"So that was…?" Marius begins but doesn't know how to put the experience in words.

"Éponine," breathes Courfeyrac, a certain tone of awe in his voice. "That was Éponine."

* * *

**HEY self promotion time:**

**If you like 'Next to Normal' (i mean come on it's the best thing since Victor Hugo), please check out my fanfiction! It, surprisingly, got a big response on Fic press... And now it's up where it belongs!**

**Don't forget to review!**


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